kids quitting

Was just having this conversation with a buddy of mine (head hockey coach in our school) yesterday.

I have a player that is not playing and has confided to another coach that he likes to fish and hunt and that football seems to serious and intense at the varsity level; he's a sophomore now.

I don't think this is the case, but it got me wondering if I'm too "enthusiastic" in what we do and expect.

At the same time, however, we have a majority of kids that seem to share the same passion.

I think there are some kids today, though, that simply don't want to work that hard as you alluded to. Football's obviously a unique sport in that a week's preparation goes into one contest. The aforementioned kid is also a baseball player and I think there's an appeal to only practicing about twice a week once the baseball season gets started and "playing" three times/week.

Those two points by blb are the reasons we wished everyone in our program played, (most do) but it's not always the case. I'm gonna add a couple more points as to why kids come out for football:

3. Because their buddy is playing. The follower of a posse will do whatever the leader is doing just because that's the way things go. We've had a few cases in the past couple years where a kid has quit, and within minutes, hit best buddy on the team quits too. Both cases, the "leader" gave the classic "I wasn't being played enough," argument.

4. Simply to where the jersey. They come out, get the jersey and then where it everywhere and cook up a story about themselves for the ladies. Then at practice, they finish last in everything because of a lack of effort, and they never show up to any workouts in the offseason, and as a result, they play for about 1% of the time they say they actually play to their friends.

To me, it seems that players with these kinds of mentalities quit more, because like other said, they realize how hard it actually is. They came in with this "vision" of how things would go, and as we see all the time in this day in age...when the going gets tough, quit. It should be when the going gets tough, fix it.

I don't know, maybe we just don't have a good pool of kids, but we get our share of each of these two points about one or every two years. Fortunately, blb's points are the majority.

bluedevil, those two "reasons" you gave wouldn't seem to explain why a pair of two-year starters quit on beebe, especially this time of year (don't know his location, whether they have Spring Football or not).

Then press on with the kids who WANT to be in your program, who are GWTP, and don't worry about those who don't want to be there.

Remember you were OP and cited those 2-3 kids as source of your frustration.

Football is not for everyone. Sometimes people lose passion for something. Some people get burned out. Who knows. People quit stuff all the time. Is it the right thing to do, probably not. But it happens.

I would say to tell someone to evaluate how they coach because a few kids quit is crazy. It's human nature. Some people will quit some will stick it out. According to that logic every coach in America should take a long hard look at themselves because we have all had kids quit.

How many of you have quit a job, for whatever reason, and your boss had you in for an exit interview? Why don't more people do this with high school athletes. I know of some kids who quit/didn't play basketball. The coach just was irate over "how can kids play one year and not the next?"....well instead of stewing about it, ask them in for an interview.

If you are losing players, regardless of the sport, find out why - don't theorize about it. Be professional and don't attack or pressure the kids. We had a kid quit a couple of seasons ago, our coach called him everything in the book. A couple of us got together and asked what the story was...his mom was trimly sick and his dad was laid off. He had to get a job to help pay the bills.

Sure they should. We evaluate players and teams. It's just as important to evaluate ourselves.

I think we as football coaches, are at a little bit of a disadvantage, because the nature of our game. Practice is hard, and practice is largely construed of drills that are mentally and physically demanding. When these kids go to basketball practice, what do they do? Scrimmage for a large part of the time. Baseball? They take batting practice and grounders. Football? Most schools only "scrimmage" for 20% of the practice, if that.

The other sports are easier, and are probably seen as "more fun" to a lot of kids.

And, I'm with blb on this one. These aren't kids that have never played before hanging it up after a few days of practice. These are kids that were invested in your program and were under the lights on Friday nights. You gotta at least get some answers from these kids on why they are no longer interested in playing football.

There can be a fine line between what you see as "doing what is necessary to win and turn the program" and what the kids see as simply being too much. It's a hell of a tough balance to find, but the great coaches seem to find it.

emptybackfield, Im going to disagree with you a little bit. Basketball is not scrimmage most practice. Our HC basketball runs his kids into the ground and I mean literally. They are the most conditioned athletes at the school. Good coaches in any sport will work fundementals more than just scrimmaging each other. Its not a bad thing that football is hard. Its not a bad thing that they have to sacrafice to win. Show me a championship team in H.S. and I will gurantee you they had blood sweat and tears on the practice field and in the weight room. Some kids just cant hack it, some kids get girlfriends, who knows. I agree with blb look at yourself and your program but then move on. Its three kids.

Every year, I get a few kids who bail on me who I really wish I could have kept, and who no doubt could have helped the team. Like the rest of you, it frustrates me to no end. My best antidote for that? Talking to all of the new kids who sign up. Every year, you get a few really promising new kids who just sort of land at the edge of the field. The light went on for them, and they are so excited to get started on their football adventure that they can't contain themselves. Seeing their eyes light up as they get their gear, and you talk up the program - that's what makes this worthwhile.

My father was an Army Cadet instructor for decades, and he always told me, "You can't save them all, son." He knew how much it killed me to lose kids. As I have gotten older, I have gotten better at shrugging off the kids who leave, and finding joy in the kids who really want to be there.

One final thought - ever had a kid, or a few kids, who drag their butts all season, giving you nothing but grief and heartache with their bad attitudes, and spreading it all around the team like a bad flu virus? Ever sat there and cursed yourself for not just cutting them when you should have? Well, there you go - they just cut themselves, and saved you the trouble.

even Jesus lost 1 out of 12...

I can only recall one kid quitting last few years but I'm getting old, my memory could be faulty.

And although he wouldn't say it I have reason to believe it was due to his Mom not wanting to cough up the "Pay to Play" fee because he wasn't a starter, wasn't going to get on the field much.

Most kids who would be "quitters" don't come out once they find out what they have to do (Summer Conditioning, starting practice a month before school starts, etc.) or after they come to a workout or two and sample it.

Of course like everyone else we have some attrition for the usual reasons each year from Freshman to JV to Varsity. But not what I consider an alarming amount.

The problem isn't that he was late, or that he was lazy, or that he had an attitude - he didn't have all those things before baseball - but he has them now.
HOW THE HEII DO YOU PLAY A KID THAT ACTS LIKE THAT?
That is the problem..[/quote]

This has been a major issue for me over the last few years. Basketball is a big deal around here but the basketball staff doesn't hold the kids accountable for anything. They come to practice as they please, they are allowed to sit out of practice with 'injuries' and aren't held to any standards of work ethic. But, there are huge numbers in basketball, we are a private school in a division filled with smaller public schools and they win a lot of games. The lack of work ethic becomes pretty obvious at the state level where they lose to schools with a quarter of our population. But, they win a lot, nonetheless.

The kids win two games in a year playing for a coach like me who demands that they show up and work hard. They lose two games in a year playing for a basketball staff that says "Do whatever the hell you want, just win."

The volleyball coach, track coach (a hard-a$$ of a woman who doesn't put up with sh-t) and I sat down with the AD and asked him to put a department-wide attendance policy in place. The lack of accountability in boys and girls basketball is ruining the rest of the programs. He told us he would never micromanage the athletics department like that. I told him he wouldn't be micromanaging us, he'd be putting his foot down on the basketball bullsh-t. I finished up the conversation with this:

"That's okay, boss, we understand. Basketball wins games and that's what counts for you and this school. Just make sure that all of those basketball t-shirts talking about 'hard work' and 'blood, sweat, and tears' are thrown away because it's bullsh-t."[/quote]

I agree with the AD.

fantom

There are a lot of coaches that would agree with him.

However, athletics in general are in the toilet around here. And, it's partly due to the total lack of accountability in basketball. But, he'll eat his words in two years when the school has to move up a class and compete against schools with the same size. Athletics as a whole will be shunned by the community when (notice I didn't say 'if') they start losing in basketball.

Girls basketball used to be a pretty big deal around here. Two .500 seasons later and participation has dropped by almost 50%.

If the kids aren't winning, and winning easily, they quit.

It doesn't matter to me. I'm out of here in two weeks.